


I Find You Rather Ribbiting

by Julz (JuAtsumi)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Facts about the animal may not be accurate but I tried, Ignoct Week, M/M, Not Discovery Channel, Older IgNoct, Status Effects, but one of them turned into an animal, original beast - Freeform, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 08:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20042851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuAtsumi/pseuds/Julz
Summary: “Lord Scientia, there has been an incident at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. It involves His Majesty.”Ignoct Week Day 2 PromptSituational: Someone gets turned into an animal—chaos ensues





	I Find You Rather Ribbiting

**Author's Note:**

> I was hoping to make their interactions more but the story called for the chocobros.  
It’s not as chaotic as it should be.

Ignis is in the midst of a discussion over coffee with the Ambassador of Accordo when the incident is being brought to his attention.

Ignis’s assistant has stepped away a short while ago to take a call that seems urgent, given the string of continuous missed calls on Ignis’s phone. He returns with a hint of dread on his face and interrupts the meeting. Leaning close to Ignis, he talks under his breath to ensure everyone else is out of earshot.

“Lord Scientia, there has been an incident at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. It involves His Majesty.”

Ignis immediately wraps up the discussion with the Ambassador, apologises for the unexpected and premature ending of their meeting, and excuses himself for the discourtesy to leave without seeing the ambassador off personally. He assigns the Glaive that is with them to ensure safe departure of the Ambassador instead.

The driver has already pulled up the car at the front of the restaurant when Ignis steps out; thanks to his assistant for the quick arrangement. Once inside the car, his assistant fills him in with all the information that he’s got so far.

Earlier in the afternoon, King Noctis went to visit the Insomnia Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre as planned. It was one of his regular visits to the centre to see how the Citadel could assist in raising more resources to support the centre.

Wildlife is no longer a threat in the new dawn, unlike in the past when they were on the road trip to save Eos; so, it is not necessary to be on guard on trips like this. Moreover, the King is more than capable to fight his own battles.

On this trip, Prompto has escorted Noctis instead of Gladio, who’d usually go with the King as the Shield whenever Ignis is not available. Ignis could imagine how Prompto did not even need to persuade Noctis for more than a second to allow him to tag along. In fact, Noctis would be more than happy to have Prompto hanging out with him and would’ve told Gladio that he’ll be fine going with his buddy.

During this period, the centre has been taking care of a Miniuserpent sent over by King Ravus due to the lack of expertise in rehabilitation of wildlife in Tenebrae. The Miniuserpent, native to Tenebrae, is a rare species that’s close to extinction. Ravus had personally contacted Noctis for a favour to lend a hand on this injured one.

For reasons unknown, the Miniuserpent had managed to escape from its housing facilities when the staff was conducting a routine evaluation session that just so happened to take place on this day—when the King was visiting.

With limited facts at hand, Ignis makes a call to Ravus while on the way back to the Citadel, hoping to get more information about the species—one he has not encountered before.

“Although it’s pretty small in size compared to a Midgardsormr or Naga, it is a potent species that could inflict a powerful status effect,” explains Ravus, but before Ignis could ask any questions, Ravus couldn’t resist adding, “I’ve heard that Noctis jumped on it without a Ribbon on him. He seems to be as reckless as he used to be, isn’t he?”

“That’s… beside the point. Please explain ‘powerful’.”

The phone conversation carries on for a little longer. However, there isn’t much that Ravus could offer in terms of advice to reverse the status effect sooner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The door to the throne room opens with a thud and Ignis enters hastily to see Prompto standing facing the throne with no King in sight—except that the throne is not entirely empty. Prompto seems to be muttering something to himself (or at least that’s what it looks like) while Gladiolus is sitting on the staircase in front of the throne, elbows resting on his knees and hands press to the sides of his face.

With weary expressions, they observe as Ignis walks up the stairs towards them.

“I’m so, so, so sorry, Ignis. I should’ve stopped him. I mean… I—I’ve tried to. But he said, ‘I’ve got this, Prompto, just like old times.’ And he went straight to it. I wanted to go after him, but the response team came, and they handed me the ribbons. And then I was rushing over to him, but…” Prompto lets out a loud sigh, deflating his chest. A hint of guiltiness is reflected from his eyes.

Ignis is more anxious to see how his husband is doing rather than concern about what had happened at this moment. However, he’s been hindered from getting a glimpse of His Majesty as Prompto is obstructing his view all this while.

“Calm down, Prompto. It’s alright. We know how Noct—“

“It is not _all right_.” Gladiolus pulls himself upright, eyebrows knit in frustration as he motions Prompto to move to the side. He gestures his right hand towards the throne where a tiny creature is seated. “Look at him! He’s a…”

“Frog,” Ignis offers—deadpan, shifting his gaze from the frog back to Gladio—when Gladio seems to have difficulty completing his sentence, as though it’s forbidden to utter the word; it’s an insult to the King.

“Thank you! Our King is now a frog,” Gladio remarks.

“How long has it been?” Ignis moves slowly towards the frog, so as not to startle him and carefully brings both hands closer to him.

“An hour or so,” replies Prompto. “I don’t remember the effect would last this long, or is my memory failing me?”

“Well, all the toad status effects that we encountered previously were never cast by a Miniuserpent,” Ignis explains while picking up the frog gently. The creature—bright green in colour and moderately bigger than one handbreadth—feels cold to the touch.

Ignis is relieved that the frog didn’t flinch upon contact, as though he’s familiar with the touch. He scrutinises the frog closely, trying to find any indication that this is truly Noctis; apart from his blue irises, there isn’t any other—not that he’s expecting any at all. He holds the frog close to his chest, hoping to give him a little warmth although he knows it’s not necessary.

Ignis continues to inform the both that the effect will stay for at least a couple of hours and could last up to 48 hours.

“2 days?” Prompto says incredulously.

“Well, let’s just say there’s a fortune in misfortune. Tomorrow is an off day for the King,” Ignis says in response.

“Oh… OH!” Prompto exclaims as though something dawns on him.

“No shit.” Gladio reacts simultaneously.

Ignis remains impassive although he notices their reactions. “So, no one should be looking for His Majesty and no one should know how long the King is… not himself.”

Prompto lowers himself, leans towards the frog and urges, “Okay, Noct. Seriously, you need to come back soon, like… today. You would beat yourself up if you don’t. You hear me, buddy?”

The frog stares at Prompto and gives a blink.

“Ravus also mentioned that the frog would likely retain some characteristics of Noct and could have a psyche that is similar as well.”

“Are you saying that this is still very much Noct but in frog form?” Gladio asks curiously.

“In a way, yes. That’s one of main differences between the toad effect cast by this beast comparing to the ones that we encountered—that it may be aware of his surroundings and could recall, to certain extent, what has happened. But the degree varies depending on each individual,” Ignis elaborates further.

“Ahhh, that explains why it was less _jumpy_ when we returned to the throne room.” Looking thoughtful, Prompto continues, “Whenever I talked to him, he stayed really still, as if he’s trying to understand. He didn’t even try to hop off the throne.”

At least this aspect is something that they think they could make use of to keep the situation under some control.

“So, what do we do now. Do we wait it out or…. ? At least try to do something,” Gladio finally asks the question that has been on everyone’s mind.

“Oh, what about Remedy or Maiden’s Kiss?” Prompto suggests. “Did Ravus say any of the curatives are useful?”

“Yes, those are the only ones. But we don’t have those anymore, do we?” Ignis replies, feeling defeated.

Remedy or Maiden’s Kiss, just like potions, are made by way of Noctis's powers. With the crystal destroyed after banishing the starscourge from Eos, the power of the crystal died with it naturally and the power of the Kings was returned to Bahamut since it was not needed anymore (and would never want it again). Consequently, they are now _powerless_ to make curatives in the new dawn.

“I believe we still have some.” Feeling a glimmer of hope, the two gentlemen wait for Gladio to carry on. “Those we gave to the museum; can we use them?”

“Those were made at least three years ago,” answers Ignis. “From what I remember from my study, the curative properties would only stay effective for only about a year. Thereafter it would no longer be present and what remains is what it used to be.”

Their hopes are short lived but Prompto, ever the optimist, says, “We could still try. I mean, we don’t know for sure if it’ll work, but what if Noct’s power could make it last longer than that.”

They agree that there’s no harm trying and arranges to bring either a Maiden’s Kiss or a remedy back from the museum.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In less than an hour, Prompto returns with a bottle in his hand. The bottle—almost entirely dark red in colour—is strapped with a small tag that has “Maiden’s Kiss” written on it. It still has its unostentatious label attached to it, which portrays a sketch of Lucian Tomato.

“Aren’t there any others besides Lucian tomato?” Ignis asks.

“The rest are the same as this or remedies made from Caem carrots. Which one is worse?” Prompto shrugs.

“I guess there isn’t any choice then.” Gladio takes the Maiden’s Kiss from Prompto and directs it to the frog that’s still sitting peacefully on Ignis’s hands, now with a damped cloth over it, hoping to keep his skin moist.

Standing beside the throne, Ignis puts the frog down onto the floor on the off chance that Noctis would return to himself. Gladio cracks open the bottle and pours the Lucian tomato juices on top of the frog.

In a blink of an eye, the frog hops onto Ignis—and startles him—as though to protest before it leaps, with a great distance, down the stairs.

“Noct!” Ignis immediately calls out but to no avail.

“Damn it!” Gladio springs into action and gives chase to the frog. Ignis follows suit.

Prompto moves to stand in his path in the middle of the staircase with both arms stretch out, trying to intercept the frog from jumping further down. The frog stops right in front of him and then lunges pass him effortlessly. Prompto lets out a grunt while Ignis and Gladio run pass him.

The frog continues to leap frantically across the hall towards the main exit of the throne room. They see that the door is shut and collectively feel a sense of relief… until they hear a few quick knocks on the door and slowly, it swings open.

“No, no, no! Don’t open the door!” Prompto cries out but that couldn’t prevent the inevitable.

Talcott appears from the large wooden door, holding a few sheets of paper, but those are dropped shortly when the frog launches forward towards his direction. He jerks his body sideways by reflex to dodge the incoming frog. His untimely arrival—or ‘timely’ from the frog’s perspective—unintentionally aids the frog in fleeing the throne room.

“… that His Majesty?” Talcott says with disbelief and immediately gives way to the pursuers. Ignis has told him earlier to come over to the throne room to run through the media statement with him. Given the situation, that would have to wait.

The frog keeps leaping energetically with quick, powerful jumps towards the other end of the hallway and then turns right to head to a curved staircase.

Ignis and Gladio reach the staircase shortly afterwards but the frog is nowhere to be seen. They would have to decide which way to go. The stairs could lead up to a skybridge—constructed during the rebuilding of the Citadel—which connects to an adjacent residential tower that serves as the royal residence and residences for royal staff, or down numerous floors to the lobby.

Ignis is almost certain that Noctis would be heading to their apartment but couldn’t risk being wrong. He thinks momentarily and then instructed Gladio to head down with Prompto to cover the floors below them while he’ll go up to the skybridge.

Ignis ascends the stairs swiftly and makes a turn into the skybridge, all the while keeping a lookout for the King. He’s relieved that Cor has dismissed the few guards stationing at the level of the throne room and the skybridge for today to prevent having more spectators to this undesirable incident.

As Ignis approaches the other end of the skybridge, he sees the tiny creature resting at a corner and heaves a sigh of relief; there’s a security glass door that is preventing the frog from going any further. He sends a text to inform Prompto and Gladio of his finding and to wait for his further instructions.

“Noct, it’s me.” Ignis treads warily as not to frighten the frog. “I’m here to get you. I need you to stay calm.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ignis reaches their penthouse apartment without incident. He ends the call with Gladio and then rests himself on the sofa with the frog sitting obediently on his hand. He then settles the outstanding matter with Talcott over the phone.

Looking out of the oversized window, Ignis sees that dusk is fast approaching. He admires the cityscape for a while until the lingering silence in the apartment evoke a feeling of absence.

“Noct,” Ignis shifts his gaze to the frog and lifts his hands so that the frog is facing him, “It’s our first anniversary tomorrow… and I would very much prefer not to be spending it with a frog husband,” he says, almost pleading. “Please tell me you’re going to be fine.”

The frog looks at Ignis for a moment and then makes a “ribbit” before jumping off from his hands to the sofa, jolting him from his thoughts. The frog settles on Noct’s favourite spot on the sofa; that puts a soft smile on his face. He idles on the sofa until the doorbell rings.

“How is he?” Gladio asks as they walk into the apartment.

“Sitting comfortably on the sofa,” Ignis tilts his head in that direction.

“Didn’t work, huh,” Gladio remarks as he and Prompto put down the stuff that Ignis requested to bring over on the kitchen bar counter.

“We should try the Caem carrots remedy,” Prompto suggests casually.

“No!” Ignis and Gladio object immediately in unison. As the last batch of curatives were made around the same time—and considering that the Maiden Kiss didn’t work earlier—they reckon that any others would be similar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a simple but delicious dinner which Ignis whipped up easily, they call it a night when nothing changes. The two of them leave after Ignis reassures them that he’ll be fine.

Ignis resumes his place on the sofa to work on his reports that have been pending for the day whilst keeping an eye on Noctis, who has been hopping in and out of a transparent soup plate filled with water which he has prepared and placed at the nearest corner of the living room.

A feeling of tiredness begins to set in after working past midnight. The frog—now sitting beside Ignis—jumps onto his lap, as though he’d noticed and that leaves Ignis no choice but to take a break for now.

Ignis suddenly recalls what Prompto said earlier during dinner about a comment from the media: the effect may break with—not just any kiss, but—a true love’s kiss. They had dismissed the idea and regarded it as nonsensical, “That only works in fairy tales. There’s no such thing as a kiss to break the effect and turning a frog to a prince, or in this case, a King.”

Ignis gives the notion a moment’s thought. “Maybe it’s worth a try,” Ignis says out loud, more to himself than the frog. He lifts the frog from his lap while riveting his attention on the creature’s face. After a slight hesitation, he says, “Happy Anniversary, Noct,” and gives a kiss on the frog’s mouth. He waits for a few seconds and when nothing happens, he considers if he’s doing it wrong and gives it another try.

“Am I not your true love, Noct?” Feeling foolish, Ignis puts the frog back onto his lap and laughs quietly at his own actions. He couldn’t have thought that he would eventually do that—trying something absurd in an attempt to turn his husband back to human. (But then again, what wouldn’t he do to help Noctis in any way possible, or even the impossible.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ignis opens his eyes after dozing off on the sofa in the middle of the night. He recalls that he was reading a report and… _Noct_. He snaps his head to look at the vacant space beside him, then to the soup plate and its surrounding. He feels a rush of panic when there’s no sign of Noctis until he quickly realises there’s a thin blanket over him and the report that he was holding before he fell asleep is stacked neatly on the coffee table.

Feeling less worried, Ignis gets up to look for him. He notices the food that he kept aside for him has almost been fully consumed, save for a few pieces of carrots. He hears the shower is running briefly before it is turned off as he walks towards the bedroom. Before he could push open the bedroom door that has been left ajar, Noctis strides through the door wearing a bathrobe and rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

“Ignis,” Noctis stops in his tracks when he sees Ignis standing right in front of him. “You surprised me. I thought you’re still sleeping.”

“Tell me about surprises because I don’t remember you saying anything about turning into a frog. And doing it on the eve of our anniversary,” Ignis says with a relieved smile spreading over his face. “Not that you should do it on any other day.”

“I’m sorry, Specs. I didn’t mean to make you worried,” Noctis says, looking sheepish and apologetic. “I was careless.”

“I’m just glad you’re back safely.” Ignis takes a few steps forward, reaches for the towel that is now draped around Noctis’s neck and gently rubs Noctis’s hair with the towel.

Noctis wraps his arms around Ignis’s waist and says reassuringly, “I wouldn’t miss our first anniversary, you know that.”

“I believe that was beyond your control. I doubt we could defy the effects, my love.”

“Yet you’d still do everything you could to change it.” Noctis pulls Ignis closer, putting a stop to whatever Ignis is doing with his hair and gives an affectionate smile. “I have a feeling that you kissed me.”

“Strangely enough, I find you rather _ribbiting_, even when you were a frog.”

Noctis chuckles at that remark and says, “I guess you just couldn’t resist my charms, even in any form.”

“That being said, may I advise that the next time you choose to jump on a beast, go for one that would turn you into a bunny. Maybe I won’t mind that after all, since you’ll be eating your carrots then,” Ignis teases.

“Hey!” Noctis gives a friendly shove on Ignis’s arms.

“Are you still hungry? There are some desserts inside the fridge.”

“Nah, I’m good. But I wouldn’t mind some _desserts_ in bed.” Noctis gives his husband a flirtatious smile. “It’s our anniversary after all. I’ve actually prepared some treats for you. But you’d need to kiss me properly this time.”

They share a long passionate kiss as they melt into each other’s arms before they take it to the bedroom for the rest of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> They took it to the bedroom and did it froggystyle.
> 
> Thanks to the internet for the frog pun.  
Ribbiting = Riveting


End file.
